I'm backpacking this area in early October and I plan on taking my rod. Has anyone fished this stretch of the Little Missouri, or any of the creeks in the area? Might there be trout? There is a long stretch of the trail that runs alongside the Little MO, and are numerous other small creek crossings along the trail. Any advice for the area? Thanks! Here is a link to a trail map from the forest service: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fsm9_039482.pdf

I've spent many weekends at Albert Pike. You're too early for trout - they aren't stocked above Greeson until ~November and don't survive year-round. You will however be able to do some fishing in the campground, but mainly at the trailhead. My guess is there isn't much fishing to be had most of the loop. You're constantly around water, but it's all small, shallow streams.

We would make a quick weekender out of it, hitting the 6.3 between the trailhead and Little Missouri Falls on Friday night in the dark, then the roughly 15 (brutal!) over all the ridges to Winding Stairs on Saturday, before the easy 5 back to the start Sunday morning. The entire area around Winding Stairs is just perfect camping/swimming.

And those streams are no joke when it rains. In highschool we used to take 4 wheelers and jeeps out and camp in the park. One weekend we were forced to spend an extra night on the trail up on a hill side. We would be toast had we set up camp on an island, as we often foolishly did!

Thanks for the tip! I've read a few horror stories of campers getting caught in overnight floods from storms that were miles up-stream. We will plan to camp on higher ground for sure! Do you know if there is a healthy bass population in the Little MO?

I did catch a few trout in the Little Missouri below Greeson last October (think it was about the third week of the month). You might check with the state's fish and wildlife dept. to see when they will start stocking the river this year and let me know what they say since I will likely be in the area again this October.

The Little Mo has good smallmouth fishing, but I couldn't tell you if it's good in the Albert Pike area or if that doesn't start until south of 84, around Greeson. My guess is if you find some deeper water it will have at least a few.

Little Mo below Greeson has year round trout... they are actually having a pretty good year for their trout.

Smallies exist at AP and above, but I don't know much about them.

That loop looks AWESOME! Thanks for posting this. Please report back post trip with your experience. Very interested in what you find. If you do any good at all, I will put this on my to do list.

Will do!